Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2014: Next Pitch!!

My son has been a baseball pitcher at various levels in baseball since he was about 10 years old.  He's going to be pitching for his local high school again this year it seems.  It's been fun to watch him develop and learn what works best for him.  I'm sad to know that in about 1.5 years his pitching career may be over as he finishes high school.  He has no aspirations for college ball so all the years I've watched him play will come to an end.

I have a lot of great memories of his pitching.  I have great memories of him learning to pitch, and being his catcher as he practiced.  I saw him have GREAT outings.  I saw him struggle.   Now days I don't like catching him as much since I often don't catch the ball in the pocket of the glove and he throws hard enough for it to actually hurt when the ball hits the glove..and my hand haha. But I remember one lesson I taught him years ago.

I taught him a very important lesson when he was struggling to learn to pitch, and missing the strike zone often.  It's called simply, Next Pitch.  I told him that the very millisecond that the ball comes out of his hand toward home plate, he can no longer do anything else about that pitch.  Whether it's strike three, or ball four, or hit over the fence for a home run, he cannot affect it.  All he can do is focus on the next pitch, so don't worry about the last one, just learn from it.  I remember repeating to him "Next pitch" in practice, and sometimes even during a game.

That's life too isn't it?  We cannot affect the last breath we took.  We can't change our last interaction with our loved ones.  We can't do anything about our failings with our health and well being from 2013.  It's over, it's history, done.  So why beat ourselves up over it or get bummed about it?  Learn from your last pitch, and make changes where necessary.

2013 is gone, 2014 is here. Next pitch!

Do me a favor, leave a comment and tell me your opinion on this post. It would be much appreciated!

Until next time....Be Well!
Dr. Bruce

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